I S A I A H.

CHAP. XXVIII.

In this chapter, I. The Ephraimites are reproved
and threatened for their pride and drunkenness, their security and
sensuality, ver. 1-8.
But, in the midst of this, here is a gracious promise of God's
favour to the remnant of his people, ver. 5, 6. II. They are likewise reproved
and threatened for their dulness and stupidity, and unaptness to
profit by the instructions which the prophets gave them in God's
name, ver. 9-13. III.
The rulers of Jerusalem are reproved and threatened for their
insolent contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance;
and, after a gracious promise of Christ and his grace, they are
made to know that the vain hopes of escaping the judgments of God
with which they flattered themselves would certainly deceive them,
ver. 14-22. IV. All
this is confirmed by a comparison borrowed from the method which
the husbandman takes with his ground and grain, according to which
they must expect God would proceed with his people, whom he had
lately called his threshing and the corn of his floor (ch. xxi. 10) ver. 23-29. This is written for
our admonition, and is profitable for reproof and warning to
us.

1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of
Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which
are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome
with wine! 2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one,
which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as
a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth
with the hand. 3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of
Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: 4 And the glorious
beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a
fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer;
which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in
his hand he eateth it up. 5 In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and
for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, 6
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and
for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. 7 But
they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out
of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong
drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way
through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in
judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit and
filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

Here, I. The prophet warns the kingdom of
the ten tribes of the judgments that were coming upon them for
their sins, which were soon after executed by the king of Assyria,
who laid their country waste, and carried the people into
captivity. Ephraim had his name from fruitfulness, their
soil being very fertile and the products of it abundant and the
best of the kind; they had a great many fat valleys
(v. 1, 4), and
Samaria, which was situated on a hill, was, as it were, on the
head of the fat valleys. Their country was rich and pleasant,
and as the garden of the Lord: it was the glory of Canaan, as that
was the glory of all lands; their harvest and vintage were the
glorious beauty on the head of their valleys, which were
covered over with corn and vines. Now observe,

1. What an ill use they made of their
plenty. What God gave them to serve him with they perverted, and
abused, by making it the food and fuel of their lusts. (1.) They
were puffed up with pride by it. The goodness with which God
crowned their years, which should have been to him a crown of
praise, was to them a crown of pride. Those that are rich in
the world are apt to be high-minded, 1
Tim. vi. 17. Their king, who wore the crown, was proud
that he ruled over so rich a country; Samaria, their royal city,
was notorious for pride. Perhaps it was usual at their festivals,
or revels, to wear garlands made up of flowers and ears of corn,
which they wore in honour of their fruitful country. Pride was a
sin that generally prevailed among them, and therefore the prophet,
in his name who resists the proud, boldly proclaims a woe to the
crown of pride. If those who wear crowns be proud of them, let
them not think to escape this woe. What men are proud of, be it
ever so mean, is to them as a crown; he that is proud thinks
himself as great as a king. But woe to those who thus exalt
themselves, for they shall be abased; their pride is the preface to
their destruction. (2.) They indulged themselves in sensuality.
Ephraim was notorious for drunkenness, and excess of riot; Samaria,
the head of the fat valleys, was full of those that were
overcome with wine, were broken with it, so the
margin. See how foolishly drunkards act, and no marvel when, in the
very commission of the sin, they make fools and brutes of
themselves; they yield, [1.] To be conquered by the sin; it
overcomes them, and brings them into bondage (2 Pet. ii. 19); they are led captive
by it, and the captivity is the more shameful and inglorious
because it is voluntary. Some of these wretched slaves have
themselves owned that there is not a greater drudgery in the world
than hard drinking. They are overcome not with the wine, but with
the love of it. [2.] To be ruined by it. They are broken by wine.
Their constitution is broken by it, and their health ruined. They
are broken in the callings and estates, and their souls are in
danger of being eternally undone, and all this for the
gratification of a base lust. Woe to these drunkards of
Ephraim! Ministers must bring the general woes of the word home
to particular places and persons. We must say, Woe to this or
that person, if he be a drunkard. There is a particular woe to
the drunkards of Ephraim, for they are of God's professing people,
and it becomes them worse than any other; they know better, and
therefore should give a better example. Some make the crown of
pride to belong to the drunkards, and to mean the garlands with
which those were crowned that got the victory in their wicked
drinking matches and drank down the rest of the company. They were
proud of their being mighty to drink wine; but woe to those who
thus glory in their shame.

2. The justice of God in taking away their
plenty from them, which they thus abused. Their glorious
beauty, the plenty they were proud of, is but a fading
flower; it is meat that perishes. The most substantial fruits,
if God blast them and blow upon them, are but fading flowers,
v. 1. God can easily
take away their corn in the season thereof (Hos. ii. 9), and recover locum
vastatum—ground that has been alienated and has run to waste,
those goods of his which they prepared for Baal. God has an officer
ready to make a seizure for him, has one at his beck, a mighty
and strong one, who is able to do the business, even the king
of Assyria, who shall cast down to the earth with the hand,
shall easily and effectually, and with the turn of a hand, destroy
all that which they are proud of and pleased with, v. 2. He shall throw it down
to the ground, to be broken to pieces with a strong hand, with a
hand that they cannot oppose. Then the crown of pride, and
the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under foot
(v. 3); they shall
lie exposed to contempt, and shall not be able to recover
themselves. Drunkards, in their folly, are apt to talk proudly, and
vaunt themselves most when they most shame themselves; but they
thereby render themselves the more ridiculous. The beauty of their
valleys, which they gloried in, will be, (1.) Like a fading
flower (as before, v.
1); it will wither of itself, and has in itself the
principles of its own corruption; it will perish in time by its own
moth and rust. (2.) Like the hasty fruit, which, as soon as
it is discovered, is plucked and eaten up; so the wealth of this
world, besides that it is apt to decay of itself, is subject to be
devoured by others as greedily as the first-ripe fruit, which is
earnestly desired, Mic. vii.
1. Thieves break through and steal. The harvest
which the worldling is proud of the hungry eat up (Job v. 5); no sooner do they see the
prey but they catch at it, and swallow up all they can lay their
hands on. It is likewise easily devoured, as that fruit which,
being ripe before it has grown, is very small, and is soon eaten
up; and there being little of it, and that of little worth, it is
not reserved, but used immediately.

II. He next turns to the kingdom of Judah,
whom he calls the residue of his people (v. 5), for they were but two tribes to
the other ten.

1. He promises them God's favours, and that
they shall be taken under his guidance and protection when the
beauty of Ephraim shall be left exposed to be trodden down and
eaten up, v. 5, 6.
In that day, when the Assyrian army is laying Israel waste,
and Judah might think that their neighbour's house being on fire
their own was in danger, in that day of treading down and
perplexity, then God will be to the residue of his people all they
need and can desire; not only to the kingdom of Judah, but to those
of Israel who had kept their integrity, and, as was probably the
case with some, betook themselves to the land of Judah, to be
sheltered by good king Hezekiah. When the Assyrian, that mighty
one, was in Israel as a tempest of hail, noisy and
battering, as a destroying storm bearing down all before it,
especially at sea, and as a flood of mighty waters
overflowing the country (v.
2), then in that day will the Lord of hosts, of
all hosts, distinguish by peculiar favours his people who have
distinguished themselves by a steady and singular adherence to him,
and that which they most need he will himself be to them. This very
much enhances the worth of the promises that God, covenanting to be
to his people a God all-sufficient, undertakes to be himself all
that to them which they can desire. (1.) He will put all the credit
and honour upon them which are requisite, not only to rescue them
from contempt, but to gain them esteem and reputation. He will be
to them for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty.
Those that wore the crown of pride looked upon God's people with
disdain, and trampled upon them, for they were the song of the
drunkards of Ephraim; but God will so appear for them by his
providence as to make it evident that they have his favour towards
them, and that shall be to them a crown of glory; for what greater
glory can any people have than for God to acknowledge them as his
own? And he will so appear in them, by his grace, as to make it
evident that they have his image renewed on them, and that shall be
to them a diadem of beauty; for what greater beauty can any person
have than the beauty of holiness? Note, Those that have God for
their God have him for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty; for
they are made to him kings and priests. (2.) He will give them all
the wisdom and grace necessary to the due discharge of the duty of
their place. He will himself be a spirit of judgment to those
that sit in judgment; the privy counsellors shall be guided by
wisdom and discretion and the judges shall govern by justice and
equity. It is a great mercy to any people when those that are
called to places of power and public trust are qualified for their
places, when those that sit in judgment have a spirit of judgment,
a spirit of government. (3.) He will give them all the courage and
boldness requisite to carry them resolutely through the
difficulties and oppositions they are likely to meet with. He will
be for strength to those that turn the battle to the gate,
to the gates of the enemy whose cities they besiege, or to their
own gates, when they sally out upon the enemies that besiege them.
The strength of the soldiery depends as much upon God as the wisdom
of the magistracy; and where God gives both these he is to that
people a crown of glory. This may well be supposed to refer to
Christ, and so the Chaldee paraphrast understands it: In that
day shall the Messiah be a crown of glory. Simeon calls him the
glory of his people Israel; and he is made of God to us
wisdom, righteousness, and strength.

2. He complains of the corruptions that
were found among them, and the many corrupt ones (v. 7): But they also,
many of those of Judah, have erred through wine. There are
drunkards of Jerusalem, as well as drunkards of Ephraim; and
therefore the mercy of God is to be so much the more admired that
he has not blasted the glory of Judah as he has done that of
Ephraim. Sparing mercy lays us under peculiar obligations when it
is thus distinguishing. Ephraim's sins are found in Judah, and yet
not Ephraim's ruins. They have erred through wine. Their
drinking to excess is itself a practical error; they think to raise
their fancy by it, but they ruin their judgment, and so put a cheat
upon themselves; they think to preserve their health by it and help
digestion, but they spoil their constitution and hasten diseases
and deaths. It is also the occasion of a great many errors in
principle; their understanding is clouded and their conscience
debauched by it; and therefore, to support themselves in it, they
espouse corrupt notions, and form their minds in favour of their
lusts. Probably some were drawn in to worship idols by their love
of the wine and strong drink which there was plenty of at their
idolatrous festivals; and so they erred through wine, as Israel,
for love of the daughters of Moab, joined themselves to Baal-peor.
Three things are here observed as aggravations of this sin:—(1.)
That those were guilty of it whose business it was to warn others
against it and to teach them better, and therefore who ought to
have set a better example: The priest and the prophet are
swallowed up of wine; their office is quite drowned and lost in
it. The priests, as sacrificers, were obliged by a particular law
to be temperate (Lev. x. 9),
and, as rulers and magistrates, it was not for them to drink wine,
Prov. xxxi. 4. The prophets
were a kind of Nazarites (as appears by Amos ii. 11), and, as reprovers by office,
were concerned to keep at the utmost distance from the sins they
reproved in others; yet there were many of them ensnared in this
sin. What! a priest, a prophet, a minister, and yet drunk! Tell
it not in Gath. Such a scandal are they to their coat. (2.)
That the consequences of it were very pernicious, not only by the
ill influence of their example, but the prophet, when he was drunk,
erred in vision; the false prophets plainly discovered
themselves to be so when they were in drink. The priest stumbled
in judgment and forgot the law (Prov. xxxi. 5); he reeled and staggered as
much in the operations of his mind as in the motions of his body.
What wisdom or justice can be expected from those that sacrifice
reason, and virtue, and conscience, and all that is valuable to
such a base lust as the love of strong drink is? Happy art thou, O
land! when thy princes eat and drink for strength, and
not for drunkenness, Eccl. x.
17. (3.) That the disease was epidemic, and the
generality of those that kept any thing of a table were infected
with it: All tables are full of vomit, v. 8. See what an odious thing the sin
of drunkenness is, what an affront it is to human society; it is
rude and ill-mannered enough to sicken the beholders, for the
tables where they eat their meat are filthily stained with the
marks of this sin, which the sinners declare as Sodom. Their tables
are full of vomit, so that the victor, instead of being proud of
his crown, ought rather to be ashamed of it. It bodes ill to any
people when so sottish a sin as drunkenness has become
national.

The Degeneracy of Judah. (b. c. 725.)

9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall
he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from
the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept
must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line,
line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this
people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest
wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is
the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 13 But the word of
the Lord was unto them precept upon
precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here
a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall
backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

The prophet here complains of the wretched
stupidity of this people, that they were unteachable and made no
improvement of the means of grace which they possessed; they still
continued as they were, their mistakes not rectified, their hearts
not renewed, nor their lives reformed. Observe,

I. What it was that their prophets and
ministers designed and aimed at. It was to teach them
knowledge, the knowledge of God and his will, and to make
them understand doctrine, v. 9. This is God's way of dealing
with men, to enlighten men's minds first with the knowledge of his
truth, and thus to gain their affections, and bring their wills
into a compliance with his laws; thus he enters in by the door,
whereas the thief and the robber climb up another way.

II. What method they took, in pursuance of
this design. They left no means untried to do them good, but taught
them as children are taught, little children that are beginning to
learn, that are taken from the breast to the book (v. 9), for among the Jews it
was common for mothers to nurse their children till they were three
years old, and almost ready to go to school. And it is good to
begin betimes with children, to teach them, as they are capable,
the good knowledge of the Lord, and to instruct them even when they
are but newly weaned from the milk. The prophets taught them as
children are taught; for, 1. They were constant and industrious in
teaching them. They took great pains with them, and with great
prudence, teaching them as they needed it and were able to bear it
(v. 10): Precept
upon precept. It must be so, or (as some read) it has been
so. They have been taught, as children are taught to read, by
precept upon precept, and taught to write by line upon
line, a little here and a little there, a little of one
thing and a little of another, that the variety of instructions
might be pleasing and inviting,—a little at one time and a little
at another, that they might not have their memories overcharged,—a
little from one prophet and a little from another, that every one
might be pleased with his friend and him whom he admired. Note, For
our instruction in the things of God it is requisite that we have
precept upon precept and line upon line, that one precept and line
should be followed, and so enforced by another; the precept of
justice must be upon the precept of piety, and the precept of
charity upon that of justice. Nay, it is necessary that the same
precept and the same line should be often repeated and inculcated
upon us, that we may the better understand them and the more easily
recollect them when we have occasion for them. Teachers should
accommodate themselves to the capacity of the learners, give them
what they most need and can best bear, and a little at a time,
Deut. vi. 6, 7. 2. They
courted and persuaded them to learn, v. 12. God, by his prophets, said to
them, "This way that we are directing you to, and directing
you in, is the rest, the only rest, wherewith you may
cause the weary to rest; and this will be the refreshing of
your own souls, and will bring rest to your country from the wars
and other calamities with which it has been long harassed." Note,
God by his word calls us to nothing but what is really for our
advantage; for the service of God is the only true rest for those
that are weary of the service of sin and there is no refreshing but
under the easy yoke of the Lord Jesus.

III. What little effect all this had upon
the people. They were as unapt to learn as young children newly
weaned from the milk, and it was as impossible to fasten any thing
upon them (v. 9):
nay, one would choose rather to teach a child of two years old than
undertake to teach them; for they have not only (like such a child)
no capacity to receive what is taught them, but they are prejudiced
against it. As children, they have need of milk, and
cannot bear strong meat, Heb.
v. 12. 1. They would not hear (v. 12), no, not that which would be
rest and refreshing to them. They had no mind to hear it. The word
of God commanded their serious attention, but could not gain it;
they were where it was preached, but they turned a deaf ear to it,
or as it came in at one ear it went out at the other. 2. They would
not heed. It was unto them precept upon precept, and line upon
line (v. 13);
they went on in a road of external performances; they kept up the
old custom of attending upon the prophet's preaching and it was
continually sounding in their ears, but that was all; it made no
impression upon them; they had the letter of the precept, but no
experience of the power and spirit of it; it was continually
beating upon them, but it beat nothing into them. Nay, 3. It should
seem, they ridiculed the prophet's preaching, and bantered it. The
word of the Lord was unto them Tsau latsau, kau lakau; in
the original it is in rhyme; they made a song of the prophet's
words, and sang it when they were merry over their wine. David was
the song of the drunkards. It is great impiety, and a high affront
to God, thus to make a jest of sacred things, to speak of that
vainly which should make us serious.

IV. How severely God would reckon with them
for this. 1. He would deprive them of the privilege of plain
preaching, and speak to them with stammering lips and another
tongue, v. 11.
Those that will not understand what is plain and level to their
capacity, but despise it as mean and trifling, are justly amused
with that which is above them. Or God will send foreign armies
among them, whose language they understand not, to lay their
country waste. Those that will not hear the comfortable voice of
God's word shall be made to hear the dreadful voice of his rod. Or
these words may be taken as denoting God's gracious condescension
to their capacity in his dealing with them; he lisped to them in
their own language, as nurses do to their children, with stammering
lips, to humor them; he changed his voice, tried first one way and
then another; the apostle quotes it as a favour (1 Cor. xiv. 21), applying it to the gift of
tongues, and complaining that yet for all this they would not hear.
2. He would bring utter ruin upon them. By their profane contempt
of God and his word they are but hastening on their own ruin, and
ripening themselves for it; it is that they may go and fall
backward, may grow worse and worse, may depart further and
further from God, and proceed from one sin to another, till they be
quite broken, and snared, and taken, and ruined, v. 13. They have here a
little and there a little of the word of God; they think it too
much, and say to the seers, See not; but it proves too
little to convert them, and will prove enough to condemn them. If
it be not a savour of life unto life, it will be a savour
of death unto death.

Judgments Announced; The Corner-stone in
Zion. (b. c. 725.)

14 Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people
which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because ye have said, We
have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come
unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have
we hid ourselves: 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone,
a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the
plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the
waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant
with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall
not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye
shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goeth
forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over,
by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to
understand the report. 20 For the bed is shorter than that
a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering
narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 21 For
the Lord shall rise up as in
mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,
that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his
act, his strange act. 22 Now therefore be ye not mockers,
lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord
God of hosts a consumption, even
determined upon the whole earth.

The prophet, having reproved those that
made a jest of the word of God, here goes on to reprove those that
made a jest of the judgments of God, and set them at defiance; for
he is a jealous God, and will not suffer either his ordinances or
his providences to be brought into contempt. He addressed himself
to the scornful men who ruled in Jerusalem, who were the
magistrates of the city, v.
14. It is bad with a people when their thrones of
judgment become the seats of the scornful, when rulers are
scorners; but that the rulers of Jerusalem should be men of such a
character, that they should make light of God's judgments and scorn
to take notice of the tokens of his displeasure, is very sad. Who
will be mourners in Zion if they are scorners? Observe,

I. How these scornful men lulled themselves
asleep in carnal security, and even challenged God Almighty to do
his worst (v. 15)
You have said, We have made a covenant with death and the
grave. They thought themselves as sure of their lives, even
when the most destroying judgments were abroad, as if they had made
a bargain with death, upon a valuable consideration, not to come
till they sent for him or not to take them away by any violence,
but by old age. If we be at peace with God, and have made a
covenant with him, we have in effect made a covenant with death
that it shall come in the fittest time, that whenever it comes, it
shall be no terror to us, nor do us any real damage; death is ours
if we be Christ's (1 Cor. iii. 22,
23): but to think of making death our friend, or being
in league with it, while by sin we are making God our enemy and are
at war with him, is the greatest absurdity that can be. It was fond
conceit which these scorners had, "When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through our country, and others shall fall under it,
yet it shall not come to us, not reach us, though it extend
far, not bear us down, though it is an overflowing scourge." It is
the greatest folly imaginable for impenitent sinners to think that
either in this world or the other they shall fare better than their
neighbours. But what is the ground of their confidence? Why, truly,
We have made lies our refuge. Either, 1. Those things which
the prophets told them would be lies and falsehood to them and
would deceive, but which they themselves looked upon as substantial
fences. The protection of their idols, the promises with which
their false prophets soothed them, their policy, their wealth,
their interest in the people; these they confided in, and not in
God; nay, these they confided in against God. Or, 2. Those things
which should be lies and falsehood to the enemy, who was
flagellum Dei—the scourge of God, the overflowing scourge;
they would secure themselves by imposing upon the enemy with their
stratagems of war, or their feigned submissions in treaties of
peace. The rest of the cities of Judah were taken because they made
an obstinate defence; but the rulers of Jerusalem hope to succeed
better. They think themselves greater politicians than those of the
country towns; they will compliment the king of Assyria with a
promise to surrender their city, or to become tributaries to him,
with a purpose at the same time to shake off his yoke as soon as
the danger is over, not caring though they be found liars to him,
as the expression is, Deut. xxxiii.
29. Note, Those put a cheat upon themselves that think
to gain their point by putting cheats upon those they deal with.
Those that pursue their designs by trick and fraud, by mean and
paltry shifts, may perhaps compass them, but cannot expect comfort
in them. Honesty is the best policy. But such refuges as these are
those driven to that depart from God, and throw themselves out of
his protection.

II. How God, by the prophet, awakens them
out of this sleep, and shows them the folly of their security.

1. He tells them upon what grounds they
might be secure. He does not disturb their false confidences, till
he has first shown them a firm bottom on which they may repose
themselves (v. 16):
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone. This
foundation is, (1.) The promises of God in general—his word, upon
which he has caused his people to hope—his covenant with Abraham,
that he would be a God to him and his; this is a foundation, a
foundation of stone, firm and lasting, for faith to build upon; it
is a tried stone, for all the saints have stayed themselves
upon it and it never failed them. (2.) The promise of Christ in
particular; for to him this is expressly applied in the New
Testament, 1 Pet. ii. 6-8.
He is that stone which has become the head of the corner.
The great promise of the Messiah and his kingdom, which was to
begin at Jerusalem, was sufficient to make God's people easy in the
worst of times; for they knew well that till he came the sceptre
should not depart from Judah. Zion shall continue while this
foundation is yet to be laid there. "Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, for the comfort of those that dare not make lies
their refuge, Behold, and look upon me as one that has
undertaken to lay in Zion a Stone," Jesus Christ is a
foundation of God's laying. This is the Lord's doing. He is
laid in Zion, in the church, in the holy hill. He is a tried stone,
a trying stone (so some), a touch-stone, that shall distinguish
between true and counterfeit. He is a precious stone, for such are
the foundations of the New Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 19), a corner-stone, in whom the
sides of the building are united, the head-stone of the
corner. And he that believes these promises, and rests
upon them, shall not make haste, shall not run to and fro in
a hurry, as men at their wits' end, shall not be shifting hither
and thither for his own safety, nor be driven to his feet by any
terrors, as the wicked man is said to be (Job xviii. 11), but with a fixed heart shall
quietly wait the event, saying, Welcome the will of God. He
shall not make haste in his expectations, so as to
anticipate the time set in the divine counsels, but, though it
tarry, will wait the appointed hour, knowing that he that shall
come will come, and will not tarry. He that believes will not
make more haste than good speed, but be satisfied that God's time
is the best time, and wait with patience for it. The apostle from
the LXX. explains this, 1 Pet. ii.
6. He that believes on him shall not be
confounded; his expectations shall not be frustrated, but far
out-done.

2. He tells them that upon the grounds
which they now built on they could not be safe, but their
confidences would certainly fail them (v. 17): Judgment will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet. This denotes,

(1.) The building up of his church; having
laid the foundation (v.
16), he will raise the structure, as builders do, by
line and plummet, Zech. iv.
10. Righteousness shall be the line and judgment the
plummet. The church, being grounded on Christ, shall be formed and
reformed by the scripture, the standing rule of judgment and
righteousness. Judgment shall return unto righteousness,Ps. xciv. 15. Or,

(2.) The punishing of the church's enemies,
against whom he will proceed in strict justice, according to the
threatenings of the law. He will give them their deserts, and bring
upon them the judgments they have challenged, but in wisdom too,
and by an exact rule, that the tares may not be plucked up with the
wheat. And when God comes thus to execute judgment,

[1.] These scornful men will be made
ashamed of the vain hopes with which they had deluded themselves.
First, They designed to make lies their refuge; but it will
indeed prove a refuge of lies, which the hail shall sweep
away, that tempest of hail spoken of v. 2. Those that make lies their
refuge build upon the sand, and the building will fall when the
storm comes, and bury the builder in the ruins of it. Those that
make any thing their hiding place but Christ shall find that the
waters will overflow it, as every shelter but the ark was
over-topped and overthrown by the waters of the deluge. Such is the
hope of the hypocrite; this will come of all his confidences.
Secondly, They boasted of a covenant with death, and an
agreement with the grave; but it shall be disannulled, as
made without his consent who has the keys and sovereign command of
hell and death. Those do but delude themselves that think by any
wiles to evade the judgments of God. Thirdly, They fancied
that when the overflowing scourge should pass through the land it
should not come near them; but the prophet tells them that then,
when others were falling by the common calamity, they should not
only share in it, but should be trodden down by it: "You shall be
to it for a treading down; it shall triumph over you as much as
over any other, and you shall become its easy prey." They are
further told (v.
19), 1. That it shall begin with them; they shall be so
far from escaping it that they shall be the first that shall fall
by it: "From the time it goes forth it shall take you, as if
it came on purpose to seize you." 2. That it shall pursue them
closely: "Morning by morning shall it pass over; as duly as
the day returns you shall hear of some desolation or other made by
it; for divine justice will follow its blow; you shall never be
safe nor easy by day nor by night; there shall be a pestilence
walking in darkness and a destruction wasting at noonday." 3. That
there shall be no avoiding it: "The understanding of the report of
its approach shall not give you any opportunity to make your
escape, for there shall be no way of escape open; but it shall be
only a vexation, you shall see it coming, and not see how to help
yourselves." Or, "The very report of it at a distance will be a
terror to you; what then will the thing itself be?" Evil tidings
are a terror and vexation to scorners, but he whose heart is fixed,
trusting in God, is not afraid of them; whereas, when the
overflowing scourge comes, then all the comforts and
confidences of scorners fail them, v. 20. (1.) That in which they
thought to repose themselves reaches not to the length of their
expectations: The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch
himself upon it, so that he is forced to cramp and contract
himself. (2.) That in which they thought to shelter themselves
proves insufficient to answer the intention: The covering is
narrower than that a man can wrap himself in it. Those that do
not build upon Christ as their foundation, but rest in a
righteousness of their own, will prove in the end thus to have
deceived themselves; they can never be easy, safe, nor warm; the
bed is too short, the covering is too narrow; like our first
parents' fig-leaves, the shame of their nakedness will still
appear.

[2.] God will be glorified in the
accomplishment of his counsels, v. 21. When God comes to contend with
these scorners, First, He will do his work, and bring to pass
his act, he will work for his own honour and glory, according
to his own purpose; the work shall appear to all that see it to be
the work of God as the righteous Judge of the earth.
Secondly, He will do it now against his people, as formerly
he did it against their enemies, by which his justice will appear
to be impartial; he will now rise up against Jerusalem as,
in David's time, against the Philistines in Mount Perazim
(2 Sam. v. 20), and as, in
Joshua's time, against the Canaanites in the valley of
Gibeon. If those that profess themselves members of God's
church by their pride and scornfulness make themselves like
Philistines and Canaanites, they must expect to be dealt with as
such. Thirdly, This will be his strange work, his strange
act, his foreign deed. It is work that he is backward to: he
rather delights in showing mercy, and does not afflict
willingly. It is work that he is not used to as to his own
people; he protects and favours them. It is a strange work indeed
if he turn to be their enemy and fight against them,ch. lxiii. 10. It
is a work that all the neighbours will stand amazed at (Deut. xxix. 24), and therefore the
ruins of Jerusalem are said to be an astonishment, Jer. xxv. 18.

Lastly, We have the use and
application of all this (v.
22): "Therefore be you not mockers; dare not to
ridicule either the reproofs of God's word or the approaches of his
judgments." Mocking the messengers of the Lord was
Jerusalem's measure-filling sin. The consideration of the judgments
of God that are coming upon hypocritical professors should
effectually silence mockers, and make them serious: "Be you not
mockers, lest your bands be made strong, both the bands by
which you are bound under the dominion of sin" (for there is little
hope of the conversion of mockers) "and the bands by which you are
bound over to the judgments of God." God has bands of justice
strong enough to hold those that break all the bonds of his law
asunder and cast away all his cord from them. Let not these mockers
make light of divine threatenings, for the prophet (who is one of
those with whom the secret of the Lord is) assures them that the
Lord God of hosts has, in his hearing, determined a consumption
upon the whole earth; and can they think to escape? or shall
their unbelief invalidate the threatening?

Husbandry a Divine Art. (b. c. 725.)

23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and
hear my speech. 24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?
doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 25 When he
hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the
fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat
and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 26 For
his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing
instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin;
but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a
rod. 28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not
ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his
cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 29 This also
cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,
which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in
working.

This parable, which (like many of our
Saviour's parables) is borrowed from the husbandman's calling, is
ushered in with a solemn preface demanding attention, He that
has ears to hear, let him hear, hear and understand, v. 23.

I. The parable here is plain enough, that
the husbandman applies himself to the business of his calling with
a great deal of pains and prudence, secundum artem—according to
rule, and, as his judgment directs him, observes a method and
order in his work. 1. In his ploughing and sowing: Does the
ploughman plough all day to sow? Yes, he does, and he
ploughs in hope and sows in hope, 1 Cor. ix. 10. Does he open and break the
clods? Yes, he does, that the land may be fit to receive the
seed. And when he has thus made plain the face thereof does
he not sow his seed, seed suitable to the soil? For the husbandman
knows what grain is fit for clayey ground and what for sandy
ground, and, accordingly, he sows each in its place—wheat in
the principal place (so the margin reads it), for it is the
principal grain, and was a staple commodity of Canaan (Ezek. xxvii. 17), and barley in
the appointed place. The wisdom and goodness of the God of
nature are to be observed in this, that, to oblige his creatures
with a grateful variety of productions, he has suited to them an
agreeable variety of earths. 2. In his threshing, v. 27, 28. This also he
proportions to the grain that is to be threshed out. The fitches
and the cummin, being easily got out of their husk or ear, are
only threshed with a staff and a rod; but the
bread-corn requires more force, and therefore that must be
bruised with a threshing instrument, a sledge shod with
iron, that was drawn to and fro over it, to beat out the corn; and
yet he will not be ever threshing it, nor any longer than is
necessary to loosen the corn from the chaff; he will not break
it, or crush it, into the ground with the wheel of his cart,
nor bruise it to pieces with his horsemen; the grinding
of it is reserved for another operation. Observe, by the way, what
pains are to be taken, not only for the earning, but for the
preparing of our necessary food; and yet, after all, it is meat
that perishes. Shall we then grudge to labour much more for the
meat which endures to everlasting life? Bread-corn is
bruised. Christ was so; it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, that he might be the bread of life to us.

II. The interpretation of the parable is
not so plain. Most interpreters make it a further answer to those
who set the judgments of God at defiance: "Let them know that as
the husbandman will not be always ploughing, but will at length sow
his seed, so God will not be always threatening, but will at length
execute his threatenings and bring upon sinners the judgments they
have deserved; but in wisdom, and in proportion to their strength,
not that they may be ruined, but that they may be reformed and
brought to repentance by them." But I think we may give this
parable a greater latitude in the exposition of it. 1. In general,
that God who gives the husbandman this wisdom is, doubtless,
himself infinitely wise. It is God that instructs the husbandman
to discretion, as his God, v. 26. Husbandmen have need of
discretion wherewith to order their affairs, and ought not
undertake that business unless they do in some measure understand
it; and they should by observation and experience endeavour to
improve themselves in the knowledge of it. Since the king
himself is served of the field, the advancing of the art of
husbandry is a common service to mankind more than the cultivating
of most other arts. The skill of the husbandman is from God, as
every good and perfect gift is. This takes off somewhat of the
weight and terror of the sentence passed on man for sin, that when
God, in execution of it, sent man to till the ground, he taught him
how to do it most to his advantage, otherwise, in the greatness of
his folly, he might have been for ever tilling the sand of the
sea, labouring to no purpose. It is he that gives men capacity
for this business, an inclination to it, and a delight in it; and
if some were not by Providence cut out for it, and mad to rejoice
(as Issachar, that tribe of husbandmen) in their tents,
notwithstanding the toil and fatigue of this business, we should
soon want the supports of life. If some are more discreet and
judicious in managing these or any other affairs than others are,
God must be acknowledged in it; and to him husbandmen must seek for
direction in their business, for they, above other men, have an
immediate dependence upon the divine Providence. As to the other
instance of the husbandman's conduct in threshing his corn, it is
said, This also comes forth from the Lord of hosts,v. 29. Even the
plainest dictate of sense and reason must be acknowledged to
come forth from the Lord of hosts. And, if it is from him
that men do things wisely and discreetly, we must needs acknowledge
him to be wise in counsel and excellent in working. God's
working is according to his will; he never acts against his own
mind, as men often do, and there is a counsel in his whole will: he
is therefore excellent in working, because he is wonderful
in counsel. 2. God's church is his husbandry, 1 Cor. iii. 9. If Christ is the true vine, his
Father is the husbandman (John xv.
1), and he is continually by his word and ordinances
cultivating it. Does the ploughman plough all day, and
break the clods of his ground, that it may receive the seed,
and does not God by his ministers break up the fallow ground? Does
not the ploughman, when the ground is fitted for the seed, cast in
the seed in its proper soil? He does so, and so the great God sows
his word by the hand of his ministers (Matt. xiii. 19), who are to divide the word
of truth and give every one his portion. Whatever the soil of the
heart is, there is some seed or other in the word proper for it.
And, as the word of God, so the rod of God is thus wisely made use
of. Afflictions are God's threshing-instruments, designed to loosen
us from the world, to separate between us and our chaff, and to
prepare us for use. And, as to these, God will make use of them as
there is occasion; but he will proportion them to our strength;
they shall be no heavier than there is need. If the rod and the
staff will answer the end, he will not make use of his cart-wheel
and his horsemen. And where these are necessary, as for the
bruising of the bread-corn (which will not otherwise be got clean
from the straw), yet he will not be ever threshing it, will not
always chide, but his anger shall endure but for a moment; nor will
he crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth. And
herein we must acknowledge him wonderful in counsel and
excellent in working.